Blending Californian influences with Balinese hospitality, The Huntley Villas demonstrates how considered design can create a destination that transports guests long before they step outside…
In luxury hospitality, design increasingly serves a purpose beyond aesthetics. The most memorable properties don’t simply house guests; they transport them, creating a complete sense of escapism that lingers long after checkout. Few new openings demonstrate this more deliberately than The Huntley Villas in Canggu, Bali, where retro Californian influences, warm material palettes and curved architectural forms combine to create an immersive departure from the island’s design conventions.
Opened in late 2025, The Huntley is the second Bali project from developers Tess Keddie and her husband Tim Dugdale, following the success of The Cali Villas in 2022. Where their debut drew on Palm Springs through bold colour and warm finishes, The Huntley pushes the concept further, offering a considered, design-led villa experience that its founders felt simply didn’t exist on the island. Many Bali villas lean on locally sourced materials for economy, resulting in a fairly homogenous look across the market; The Huntley, like The Cali Villas before it, was conceived to feel like somewhere else entirely.
The Huntley Villas – Pool | Image credit: The Huntley Villas
That difference is immediately legible in the architecture. Working with Herbert & Howes, their long-time collaborators, the team has built an aesthetic that reads like the California desert meeting West Hollywood: sweeping arches, terrazzo and marble surfaces, and a restrained mid-century sensibility. Neutral foundations are lifted by accents of burnt orange and chocolate brown, giving each space warmth without straying from its calming base palette. The effect is as much emotional as it is visual.
Interiors, led by Tess across much of the couple’s development portfolio, carry that atmosphere through to the finer details. Having seen how ABI’s Elysian range performed at The Cali Villas, Tess selected their Kingsley Collection for The Huntley, specified in brushed brass throughout the bathrooms and kitchens. Its subtle detailing and elegant, traditional influences act as a grounding element against the richer tones elsewhere in the villas, adding depth and sophistication without ever overwhelming a room.
The Huntley Villas – Bathroom | Image credit: The Huntley Villas
For Tess, investing in fixtures of this calibre is a commercial decision as much as a creative one. The additional upfront cost pays off through stronger marketing appeal and occupancy, proof that good design and good business are rarely at odds in hospitality.
The Huntley’s sense of retreat isn’t confined to the villas themselves. The property comprises 13 private villas, in one- to four-bedroom configurations, each with its own pool and courtyard, operating within a hotel-style model supported by reception, housekeeping and dedicated hospitality services. Wellness is similarly built into the fabric of the property, with a fitness facility, jacuzzi, and rooftop wellness spaces that carry the same indoor-outdoor logic as the villas themselves, extending the sense of retreat well beyond each villa’s walls.
The Huntley Villas – Shower | Image credit: The Huntley Villas
The close collaboration between the development team and ABI throughout the project, from material selection to installation, underpinned the consistency of finishes across the property. That relationship continues beyond The Huntley: with a new home currently under construction, Tess and Tim plan to specify the Kingsley Collection again, this time in brushed nickel.
It’s a fitting continuation for a project built on the idea that guests remember how a place makes them feel. By fully committing to an aesthetic borrowed from elsewhere, The Huntley achieves what the most memorable hospitality experiences do best: transporting guests to unexpected places.
ABI Interiors is one of our Recommended Suppliers and regularly features in our Supplier News section of the website. If you are interested in becoming one of our Recommended Suppliers, please email Katy Phillips.
Main Image Credit: The Huntley Villas
